Swedish Christmas Julbord Buffét 2007

Posted on by cheryl

dsc01711_cherylbuffetline.jpg

The Christmas Julbord buffét at the Sjömagasinet restaurant, Göteborg, Sweden

As the Christmas season rolls in, most restaurants in Sweden begin to offer a smörgåsbord of delights, known as the Julbord or the Christmas table. This line of buffet consists of traditional Swedish Christmas foods such as herring preserved in a variety of marinades, the marinades of which are as inventive as the chefs are themselves. Last year, we tried herring marinated in Coca-cola, by a chef called Mikael Sande, as one of the more unusual / eccentric dishes to the Christmas buffet.
Continue reading “Swedish Christmas Julbord Buffét 2007” →

13th December: the festival of St. Lucia with Lussekatter

Posted on by cheryl

lussekatter.jpg

Our batch of Lussekatter or saffron bread this year, for Lucia

I’ve asked some Swedish friends of mine, the significance of the festival of St. Lucia in Sweden. And few knew its actual significance, except that it arrived from Italy, back when Sweden was still Catholic (today it is more Lutheran), before 1700s.

Traditionally, Lussekatter are baked without raisins in them, but as you can see from our batch above in the picture, we cheated some with adding raisins in the dough. The bread is extremely fragrant, with the smell of saffron. It does tend to dry out quickly, also because of the saffron but we hope that with the raisins in the dough, it’d stay moist just slightly longer. The saffron bread, as with most breads, tastes best fresh out of the oven. But if left for the next day, it helps with heating the bread in the oven or in the microwave oven before eating. Enjoy with a warm glass of milk!

I found a fuller account of the festival of St. Lucia via a quick search on the internet. The information below is from the website of New Sweden

Continue reading “13th December: the festival of St. Lucia with Lussekatter” →

Gingerbread cookies day

Posted on by cheryl

gingerbread_cookies.jpg

Gingerbread cookies laid out on a festive red place mat

Pepparkakans dag or gingerbread cookies day, falls on the 9th of December in Sweden, which happens to be today!

While the gingerbread cookie is most often associated with Christmas in Sweden, it is in fact eaten all year round. But then again, I’ve personally observed that it is during the Christmas season that all fantastic creations of gingerbread dough occurs! You can most often see these delicious architecture of cookie dough displayed at bakeries and candy stores in towering miniature houses replete with Santa and reindeer. Continue reading “Gingerbread cookies day” →

Cinnamon Roll Day (Kanelbullens Dag) in Sweden

Posted on by cheryl

kx109baked.jpg

Here they are, just a few minutes ago fresh from the oven. We invite all viewers to join us for a few of these warm cinnamon rolls with a tall glass of cold milk!

Cheryl and JE’s Swedish Cinnamon rolls

Every 4th October, since 1999 it is Cinnamon Buns Day in Sweden. So today we took some time off to make a batch of our own. For those in Singapore (and around the world) who would like to celebrate with us in Sweden, you could use our Cinnamon Roll recipe. Preparation time is about 20 minutes plus raising and baking time. We’ve included our pictures of today’s project.
Continue reading “Cinnamon Roll Day (Kanelbullens Dag) in Sweden” →